Botany
Erect, shrubby, branched, fleshy, cactus-like plant growing to 2-4 meters. Trunk and older branches are grayinsh and cylindric; medium branches slightly twisted and stout, fleshy, 4- or 5-angled or winged. Leavers are fleshy, oblong-obovate, 5 to 15 cm long; in young plants, longer pointed or blunt at the tip.. Stems are spiny. Flowers are solitary and short, yellow or green.

Distribution
Cultivated in gardens as a hedge plant.

Properties
Pugrative, rubefacient, expectorant.
Studies have yielded euphorbon, resin, gun caoutchouc, malate of calcium, among others.
Leaves considered diuretic.
Latex considered purgative, diuretic, vermifuge and antiasthma.

Parts used
Leaves, roots and latex.

Uses
Folkloric
Roots have been used for snake bites.
Fluid from roasted leaves used for earache.
The milky juice used for asthma, cough, earahce. Also, used as an insecticide.
Externally, applied to sores, cysts, warts, and calluses.
Juice mixed with tumeric powder used for hemorrhoids.
By mouth, it is a drastic purgative.
For internal use: decoction or infusion of 10 grams for 1 liter of water, 2-3 cups daily.
Juice of leaves used for spasmodic asthma.
In Malaya, used for earache.
In French Guiana, leaves are heated, squeezed, and the salted sap used for wheezing in babies, colds and stomach upsets. Also used for infected nails, fevers, coughs and diabetes in NW Guyana. source


Availability
Wild-crafted.